[This is a reprint of a review that originally ran in January, at the Sundance Film Festival. Jobs is in theaters today.]

While Steve Jobs changed the world with his innovations and forward thinking, the first biopic about him, Jobs, does not. It is a competent retelling of Jobs’ life, beginning with his college years, and running through the period when he regained control of Apple in the 1990s.

Ashton Kutcher plays the title role and does a good job at making you forget there’s a big star under the beard and glasses. It’s the script by Matt Whiteley, however, where the cracks begin to show. Jobs [the new official spelling of the title] is so hell-bent on cramming all these seminal moments into one film, it never builds much context around them. We never feel like they mean anything or understand the “why” about the big moments. The film loves to tell us things, but never quite explains any in a satisfactory way.

The resulting product is an entertaining but flawed take on the man who co-created Apple. Directed by Joshua Michael Stern, Jobs had its world premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival Friday night. Read more after the jump Read More »

Once the initial disbelief at Ashton Kutcher‘s casting in Joshua Michael Stern‘s jOBSwore off, it became apparent that the Two and a Half Men star looked the part of late tech guru Steve Jobs, if nothing else. But there’s a wide gap between mimicking Jobs’ hairstyle and outfits and actually embodying his persona.

Sundance Film Festival attendees will get to see how Kutcher really fares when jOBS makes its world premiere as the Sundance Film Festival’s closing night film later this month, but the rest of us won’t have too much longer to wait either. Open Road Films has just picked up the biopic with plans to release it theatrically this spring. More details after the jump.

When Ashton Kutcher was cast as Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in the biopic jOBS, there was much talk about the degree of resemblance between the actor and the young engineer.

Now that we’ve got the first official photo of Kutcher in the role, however, the most impressive thing about it might be the degree to which he looks like no one but Ashton Kutcher. Not that we expected much different, but this appears designed to court the people who might watch Two and a Half Men, rather than those more specifically interested in tech or business. (Nothing wrong with that per se.) Check out the shot below. Read More »

This sounds like an April Fools’ joke, but Jeff Sneider of Variety insists that it is not. (“The timing of the story is unfortunate but this information is CONFIRMED,” Sneider tweeted.) So here’s how the late Apple co-founder will hit the big screen: via the grinning mug of current Two and a Half Men and former That ’70s Show star Ashton Kutcher, who will play Steve Jobs in an indie simply called Jobs. Read More »